them back again. There is Arcar,* (the wild sheep:) these stars are hid in winter, and their return in spring corresponds with the reappearance of the fresh vegetation. But I do not wish to perplex you at present with a multitude of names. Learn to know the heavens and the earth, that you may stand in need of nothing but your own manhood." The night passed on favourably, and we by sunrise struck our tents and continued our march. After continuing our march in the same order for about ten days, we halted at the foot of a hill, which separates the rest of the steppe from the north, and we took up our quarters in the neighbourhood of a rivulet. As the old men, from different signs, foretold a hard winter, we began earlier than usual to construct double-felted tents, and to prepare a quantity of wood, reeds, and dry bushes. Of provisions we provided mostly dried flesh, and a drink made of soured rye-flour, similar to the wort used in distilleries. In the meantime, by Arsalan Sultan's orders, I was daily taught the military business and horsemanship. They began by tying me to an unbroken horse, and launching me into the steppe, in order to drive out of me as they said my town-tameness. They would not give me any meat but what they placed on the ground; and I was obliged to procure my dinner by lifting it while sitting on my horse, first at a pace, then at the trot, and lastly at full gallop. Flour cakes baked on the coals, which are with them the greatest delicacy, I had to pick up on the point of my lance, at full gallop; and they would not allow me to partake of game till I was myself able to hunt the antelope on horseback, and knock it down with my whip. They would not allow me to ride except at full speed. In this way, by the time that the frosts came on, I had become a tolerable horseman, by following the simple rule, necessity forms a stone.' *The Pleiades. CHAPTER XIV. Arsalan Sultan's relation of his adventures in Russia. SNOW fell, and the Kirgheez spent the greater part of their time in their tents, sitting around their fires, and listening to story-tellers. Our flocks and herds were all this time in the open plain, and fed upon the herbage under the snow. Except the driving of cattle from place to place, watching them, and the making ready of the victuals which consisted more of flesh during the winter season, we had no other work. The Kirgheez during their inactivity give themselves up to the pleasures of imagination. Their tales are full of the marvellous and supernatural, and have always for their subject some horseman, who in his wanderings through the steppe, fights with tyrants and oppressors of the fair sex, and with magicians, hunts after beauties, robs rich caravans, and at last returns to his aool, and reposes on his laurels. Love is always the chief topic of these stories: their songs also breathe the tender passion and heroism. Understanding enough of the Kirgheezian language to be sensible of the monotonous nature of these tales, I grew soon wearied of them, and one evening begged Arsalan Sultan to relate his real adventures. He made good his promise. In the following narrative, the thoughts alone belong to Arsalan Sultan, as it is obvious that after such a lapse of time, it would be impossible for me to retain the originality of the Kirgheezian idiom. Arsalan spoke Russian with some few mistakes, but not more than we frequently meet with in the conversation of such of our grandees as have received from their cradle a foreign education. He related as follows : "It is so ordained, that man, gifted as he is with an immortal soul, should exceed in wickedness and obduracy all irrational creatures; and, not content with treading and feeding upon other animals, should direct his incessant endeavours towards the oppression of his fellows. You see, Ivan, that we in our aool live in peace and concord like brethren of the same family; but do not suppose that this friendship and this love extends to all our race. No! every branch, every horde are at enmity amongst themselves: an injury done in another aool, or another horde, to a single Kirgheez, creates a breach between all his aool or horde. That is a general case or baranta, although only a common custom, but it is stronger than any law for you may remark, that people are readier in calling into use their wicked propensities or personal advantages than the rules of wisdom. My father, besides being a favourite of the Khan, was also one of his relations; but our Khans are powerless, and my father could not by means of his protection shield himself from the vengeance of a powerful Sultan who commanded the tribes of Tcheezleck and Dertkarik, who are the bitterest enemies of Russia. The pretence for this quarrel was my father's having received presents from the Russian Court; but the enmity was in reality occasioned by the preference shewn by my mother to my father, when she had been courted by the two suitors. Frequent inroads and pillagings on the part of his enemies obliged my father to retire from the heart of the steppe to the Russian frontiers, and beg assistance in powder and fire-arms from the Russians. As a pledge of his fidelity and devotion to Russia, my father delivered me with several other young people as hostages, wishing me to see the world, and observe the arrangements of civilized countries, and be at the same time useful to my countrymen by my acquired knowledge. "I was then about your years, Ivan. We were sent to Moscow, where a superintendant was set over us, that is, a government officer, whose duty consisted in providing for our maintenance at the expense of the crown, in accompanying me everywhere, shewing me what was curious, and looking after our behaviour. This officer, who had lived long on the Orenburg line, knew something of our language. From Moscow we were sent to Petersburgh, where the government gave us a Tartar interpreter, and a Russian teacher. "I confess to you, that the splendour of luxury, the display and appearance of universal contentment, had at first a powerful effect upon me, and excited a desire either to remain for the rest of my days an inhabitant of that city, or to build a town on my own territories, and follow the same arrangement. My curiosity could not be sated. I wished to see and know every thing, and cried from vexation if I could not reach what I saw, or understand what I heard. "The Empress, Catherine the Second, was pleased to express a wish to see me. I was elegantly dressed, and broght in a coach and six to the palace. With pride I surveyed the mob from the carriage windows and fancied that the eyes of the whole metropolis were upon me, because all who were passing at the time made a stand, and from curiosity stared at me. On proceeding through one street, we could not get on for the immense crowd which blocked up the street, and put questions about me to the superintendant. On a sudden we heard the sounds of music, and monkeys were seen at the open windows of a neighbouring house. The mob, without waiting to hear what the superintendant had to say, ran to the monkeys, and we went on quietly. This was the first shock to my self-esteem, and I formed a very low opinion of a mob which preferred monkeys to the son of a sultan. I did not at that time find out that it is as difficult to keep steady the attention of any mob as it is to fix the wind, and that fear is their only never-failing remembran cer. "The Empress received me very graciously, caressed me, gave me presents, and sent me home, giving the grandees of her court particular charge concerning me, with orders to take me into society, in order that I might form a better judgment of the advantages of civilization. The Empress's notice brought me into fashion, like a new arrangement of the hair or a new cut of a coat. In the city there was no ball, great dinner, or rout, where the handsome Kirgheez was not present. This name was given me by the leaders of the ton, because it had been said at court, "This little prince is not so ugly as the Kirgheez are generally represented." Gentlemen and ladies of quality were amused with my simplicity, and I was amused with their talkativeness, and the stupidity with which they took great things for small, and small things for great. One day I found a worthy family in tears and grief; all were weeping, from the father to the child at the breast. "What has happened to you?" I asked the landlady."Ah! my dear prince, you knew our uncle."- "What of him? Is he dead?" "If he were only dead it would not be half so bad, because he has already begun to squander his property, which my children should inherit; but he- Why does your father take such care of his money?" "To give meat and drink to a crowd of interlopers, who laugh in his face at his folly; prize his exotic wines and rich dishes, as if they were proofs of wisdom and benificent qualities—in fine, of every thing worthy of a gentleman. "As you like it; but you appear to me quite laughable with your unreasonable customs," said I to my friend.“ "What is fun to one is grief to another," replied he. “What appeared to me the strangest of all, was the estimation of people received into the higher circles. There neither wit nor mental endowments nor behaviour were of any consideration. "The first question regularly was, "How many souls has he?" The second, "What rank!" The third, “Of what family?" The fourth, "Of what connexions?" If 1 |